Color photograph or film and method of producing same.



F. E. IVES. COLOR PHOTOGRAPH 0R FILM AND METHOD 0F PRODUCING SAME.

h APPLICATION FILED JULY I, 1914- LY,QI I Patented. Feb. 8, 1916.A

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III/I FREDERIC E; IVES, OF WOODCLIFFE-ON-HUDSON, NEW JERSEY.

COLOR PHOTOGRAPH 0R FILM AND METHOD OF PRODUCING SAME.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented lFeb. 8, 1916.

Application led July 1, 1914. Serial No. 848,356.

.To all whom t may concern Be it known that I, FREDERIC EUGENE Ives, a citizen of the United States, residing at Woodcliffe-on-Hudson, in the county of Bergen and State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Color Photographs or Films and Methods of Producing Same, of which the following is a specification, reference being had therein t0 the accompanying drawing.

This invention relates to color photographs or films and method of producing same.

The invention involves both the arts of color photography and motion pictures and constitutes an improvement in both arts.

In its broad aspect, related to the art of color photography, the object of the invention is to afford a simple and convenient mode of producing a multi-color picture orA print. With relationto color motion pictures the object of the invention is to aHord a film containing a single series of complete multi-color or composite transparent pictures, thus securing adaptability of the film to any ordinary motion picture machine without any special preparation `or attachments thereto. In both aspects of the invention the novel method involved and also the product, that is to say, the picture or film, constitute part of the invention.

Other objects hereof will be elucidated in the hereinafter following description.

To the attainment ofthe above referred to objects the present invention consists in the novel processes, steps, products and other features hereinafter described.

First will be described one or more embodiments of the invention and thereafter the novel features will be pointed out in the claims.

Two or more simultaneously exposed views or series of views will be supposed to have been taken from substantially a single viewpoint for the purpose of securing color selection .negatives from which afterward the positives or diapositives are to be made. The two-color system will be supposed to be employed, for, although the three-color system might be used, the two-color is eminently more simple and is sufficiently satisfactory for general practical purposes.

In exposing for the view or series of views constituting the subject, there may be a red screen interposed in the path of the light rays or in some othei way a selection of the example, as has been disclosed in red rays made, and in connection therewith a film sensitized specially for red rays may be employed. Thus red-selection negatives are obtained. Similarly a green screen and green sensitive film may be emplo ed for securing greenselection negatives. ameras have been devised for simultaneously makmgsuch exposures. For the purposes of motion plctures in color according to the present lnvention I propose toemploy a pair of carefully matched motion picture cameras, the same coupled togetherby means of toothed wheel gears so as to operate in complete unison. I also prefer to employ in front of the pair of cameras a light-separatlng or image-displacing device, such, for prior applicatlon of mine, Serial Number 819,345, filed February 18, 1914, so that rays passing through one aperture or viewpoint are separated into two beams which are directed respectively to the traveling sensitive films of the two cameras. Also in addition to employmg separate red and green glasses for the purpose of color selection I prefer to employ the novel dichroic .reflector which has been disclosed and claimed in a prior application of mine, Serial Number 823,84@

filed March 11, 1914, thus giving greater speed efficiency.

Having now the color selection negatives the procedure to secure the finished color picture or motion picture films is preferably to be as follows: Still assuming the twocolor system, it will be understood that to make a composite positive the complements of the selected colors must be employed. Thus from the red selection negative I will preferably make a blue-green positive and combine with that a red positive made from the green selection negative. When I say red I mean any of the suitable reds and not necessarily a pure red; and the complementary positive may be a blue or a green or anything between them, and may be described as blue-to-green. In the preferred embodiment of the present improvement these two differently colored images are combined by producing them successively in the same identical layer. The layer may be one of gelatin and preferably the two images will be applied thereto by different methods of procedure. Thus I may proceed by4 first producing an ordinary black and white silver print in gelatin upon a suitable base, which will preferably be transparentrcelluloid in .the case of motionipicture films. This silver nuage-may then be converted into a -peacock blue color by treatment with poof gelatin. For somel purposes this first insoluble color image might be differently prepared, although the conversion of silver salt is preferred to the employment of an insoluble pigment otherwise produced in the elatin. When this blue-green monochrome 1s sufficiently dry, the second color image will be combined with the first by producing it directly in the same gelatin layer and by a different -mode from the production of the first image. I may proceed by'first sensitizing the gelatin layer with potassium bichromate so as to prepare it for exposure under the green selection negative or series of negatives. One procedure might be to -first simply expose the resensitized monochromes in proper registry under lthe ygreen selection negatlves; to thereafter immerse in water for removing' the free blchromate from the gelatin; then immersing in an aqueous solution of a suitable dye, for example, eosin red, which thereupon is selectivelv absorbed and becomes mordantedl by the chromium oxid, `or Whatever insoluble chromium compound it may. be that is formed by exposure to light; and finally washing out lthe unmordanted dye so as to 've the proper color gradations Vin the red lmage. We have thus combined the bluegreen and the red images in a single layer and we have a multi-color picture. vThese will constitute aseries of transparencies in the motion picture film and are ready to be passed through the projecting apparatus. Another procedure for combining the second image 4in the same layer with the first by dye absorption will be to expose the resensitized monochrome not under lthe green selection negatives, but under black and white-diapositives made from the latter. By

ythen washing out the lunaffected bichromate andat the same time vsoftening thevunaffected gelatin, the red image' may be producedv by selective absorption by a brief period of dyeing in an aqueous solution of -red dye, for example, `by' immersion, .for one or two minutes in an acid solution of fastred or similar dye. Still "another" procedure for incorporating the second monochrome image 'tives dye carriers in the form of gelatin reliefs which could be immersed in the red dye to selectively absorb color and thereafter applied against the gelatin carryingi the blue-green monochrome so as to permit imbibition of the red image into the gelatin, for example in accordance with pending patents of mine, Nos. 1,106,816, dated August 11, 1914, and 1,121,187, December 15, 1914.

If the three-color system be desired the above described process, while complete in itself, might be supplemented for the purpose of adding a third color either by applying lanother gelatin layer on the top of the two-color picture and incorporating the third image therein, or, in the `case of a transparent film, by making provision for applying the third color at the rear or reverse side of the film; or after the second color'has been introduced by eitherthe first or second method described, the -thirdcolor could be readily introduced into the gelatin by means of the third or imbibition 'method set forth.

A motion picture film made by the described process not onlypermits use in an unmodified projecting apparatus, but possesses the further advantages that the cost of producing the flm-.is moderate,, and, owing to the use of an aqueous dye, colors may be selected which willbe consonant with the character or coloring of the subject. l

' In the accompanying drawin Figure l fshows the original'view, or possi ly a transportions 14. Exposure in the camera with' a red screen interposed yields the ,red-selection negative 2'1, Fig. 2. This negative is black and white. The portions 22, corresponding with the white 12- in the original, are black, and so are the portions 23 corresponding with the red- 13 vin 'the original;

while the portions 24 corresponding with the green` 14in the original are clear, since the green rays therefrom were excluded by the red screen. Similarly the een-selection negative 31, Fig. 3, has b lac portions 32 and 34 corresponding to the white and green in theoriginal, and clear portions 33 corresponding to the red in the ori `nal. The two negatives 21 and 31 are we known in the art. The monochrome positive 41, Fig. 4, is made from the negative 21 but of com- Y plementary color, namely green. Therefore colloid layer on a suitable carrier, prefer- `ably an insoluble image, such as converted silver, photographically produced directly from the negative 21. The succeeding monochrome, image, produced by a different process, to be blended with the image 41, is produced either directly from negative 31, or indirectly, as described.. When produced it is preferably a red soluble or dye image, and is introduced directly into the same colloid layer in registry with the green image 41 by absorption. This gives the final photograph or film 51, Fig. 5, in which the white portions 52 correspond with the portions 12, 22, 32 and 42, the red portions 53 with the portions 13, 23, 33 and 43, `and the green portions 54 with the portions 14, 24, 34 and 44, in ythe previous figures. Colors other than red and green, such as yellow, would produce effects on both negatives 21 and 31, appearing as half tones or grays, and would yield blended green and red in the. final print 51, thus approximating the origlnal yellow. A

In carrying out the hereinabove described three-color method in which three monochrome images are successively introduced into the same layer of colloid or gelatin, I prefer, as stated, to form the first image as an insoluble image, such, for example, as

a. converted silver image, and to produce the second image by selective absorption into the gelatin for example, by sensitizing, printing and dyeing, as stated, these rst two images to be of blue-to-green and red colors respectively, and finally introducing a yellow image into the same layer of colloid by transfer of the same by imbibition from a dyed colloid relief or other dye-image-carrying member. By this procedure the gelatin layer is, through all its steps, maintained of uniform thickness so that none of the steps interferes with the others. The converted silver image is not subject to impairment by the production of the subsequent images. The selective absorption of the second image gives a sharp monochrome in register with the first image. -Imbibition from a wet dry carrier would not give a sufiiciently sharp blue or red image for motion pictures and its diffusion would be increased in the application of the final. image. VThe final image, when of a yellow color, is satisfactorily introduced f by imbibition from a wet'carrier. Critical definition and sharpnessis comparatively unimportant-with the yellow component' of the picture. This step does not im air the second image, which is adequately eld in the colloid layer. The

three-color method, photograph, and motion picture film above referred to, however, are not claimed herein, but are made the subject of claim in copending patent application Serial No. 66,839, filed December 14th, 1915.

It wili thus be seen that a multi-color picture and a film for color motion pictures and the process of producing such picture and film have been described' embodying the principles and attaining the objects and advantages of the present invention, and other advantages will be apparent to those skilled in the art. Since certain of the steps, details and other features may be modified without departing from the principles involved, no limitation to such features is intendedexcepting so far as set forth in the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. Method of producing a color photograph or color motion picture film from suitable color-selection negatives consisting in first forming one color image within the body of a given layer of material, and thereafter sensitizing, exposing and by a different process introducing another color image of different color into the body of the saine layer of material in registry with the first image.

2. Method of producing a color photograph or color motion picture film from suitable color-selection negatives consisting in first photographically forming an insoluble blue-to-green image within the body of a. given layer of material, and thereafter sensitizing said layer, exposing, and by absorption introducing a red image into the body of said layer in registry with the blueto-green image.

3. Method of producing a color photograph or color motion picture film from suitable color selection negatives consisting `in first photographically forming an insoluble color image within the body of a' given layer of material, and thereafter photographically exposing and by absorption introducing a dye image of different color into the body of the same layer of material in registry with the first image.

4. Method of producing a color photograph or color motion picture film from suitable color-selection negatives consisting in first photographically forming an insoluble color imagewithin the body of a given layer of material, and thereafter photographically exposing under a diapositive,

kwashing and by absorption introducing a dye image of different colorinto the body of the same layer of material in registry with the -first image.

5. Method of producing a color photograph or color motion picture film from suitable color-selection negatives consisting in first photographica-lly forming a silver image Within the bodyof a givenl layer of colloid material, converting the silver into an insoluble color, and thereafter sensitzing, exposing, washing and byselective absorption introducing a dye image of different color into the body of the same layer of material in registry with the first image.

6. Method of producing acolor photo-l graph or color motionv picture film fromY suitable color-selection negatives consisting in first photographioally forming a silver image Within the body of a given layer of colloid material, converting the silver into an insoluble blue-to-green color, and thereafter sensitizing, exposing under a diapositive, washing out the senstizingvagent, and by selective absorption in an aqueous dye solution introducing a dye image of-red color into the body of the same layer of material in registry with the first image.

7. Method of producing a color photograph or color motion picture film from suitable color-selection negatives consisting in first forming one color image within the body of a given layer of material, and thereafter by a different process introducing another color image of different color into the body of the same layer .of material in registry with the first image.

8. Method of producing a color photo-- graph or color motion picture film from suitable color-selection negatives consisting in' an insoluble first photographically forming color image within the' body o a given la-yer of material, and thereafter by absorptionintroducing a dye imageof different color into graph or color motionvpicture film from'slxtf able color-selection negatives consisting 4in first photographically forming af sllver image. within. the'body of a given layer of material, converting the silver into a bhs;

`to-green insoluble color, and-thereafter absorption introducing a red dye image into the body of the same layer of material` in registry with the first timage.-

11. Method of producing a transparent color photograph or color motion picture film from suitable color-selection negatives consisting in first photographically forming a silver image Within the body, of a given layer of colloid material, v carried directly upon its final transparent carrying medium, converting the silver. intoan insoluble blueto-green color, and thereafter by absorption introducing a redydye image into the body of the same layer of colloid material in registry with the first image.

12. A color photograph or color motion picture film comprising a colloid layer upona suitable carrying base, and containing in the said layer an insoluble color photographic image, and also. in registry therewith an image of soluble dye-stuftl of a, different color. j

13. Av color photograph or color motion picture film comprising a colloid layer upon a suitable carrying base, and .containingin the said layer an insoluble converted-silver color photographic image, and also in regisp try therewith an absorbedma'ge of soluble dye-stuff of a different color.

14.-. A color photograph or color motion picture film comprising a colloid layer upon a suitable carrying 'base,land'containing in the said layer an insoluble blue-to-green converted-silver color .photographic image, and also in registry therewith a selectively-absorbed image of soluble dye-stuff of a red color.

In testimony whereof, I have affixed my signature in presencey of two witnesses.

FREDERIC E. IVES. Witnesses: v i I i DONALD CAMrBELL, VWM. J. DoLAN. 

